The neophyte is never in greater danger of falling a victim to delusion than when he has subjected his grosser passions and begun to develop his psyc… - Henry Steel Olcott

40. Q. And how did he expect to learn the cause of sorrow in the jungle? A. By removing far away from all that could prevent his thinking deeply of the causes of sorrow and the nature of man... He went away into the forest near Uruvela, and spent six years in deep meditation, undergoing the severest discipline in mortifying his body... five Brāhman companions attended him.

32. Q. But have not many men given up all earthly blessings, and even life itself, for the sake of their fellow-men? A. Certainly. But we believe that this surpassing unselfishness and love for humanity showed themselves in his renouncing the bliss of Nirvāna countless ages ago, when he was born as the Brāhmana Sumedha, in the time of Dīpānkara Buddha: he had then reached the stage where he might have entered Nirvāna, had he not loved mankind more than himself. This renunciation implied his voluntarily enduring the miseries of earthly lives until he became Buddha, for the sake of teaching all beings the way to emancipation and to give rest to the world.

126. Q. What do you mean by that word: what is this Noble Eight-fold Path? (For the Pālī name see Q. 79.) A. The eight parts of this path are called angas. They are: 1. Right Belief (as to the law of Causation, or Karma); 2. Right Thought; 3. Right Speech; 4. Right Action; 5. Right Means of Livelihood; 6. Right Exertion; 7. Right Remembrance and Self-discipline; 8. Right Concentration of Thought. The man who keeps these angas in mind and follows them will be free from sorrow and ultimately reach salvation.